Dein erstes Forum » has five goals and three

The Cubs have carried a curse that would have made King Tut proud, the byproduct of which is a century-old, dust-filled trophy case that now may be filled with the work of this 2016 team.From spring training on, this team has been the favorite, a strange juxtaposition for an organization that for decades carried a suitcase full of preseason predictions that had it set for dead last. This year, grounded by the calm of manager Joe Maddon, the Cubs embraced history and expectations, fueling a chance to redefine the significance of the organizations dance with futility.I was on one team that flirted with legendary emptiness, when in 1997, we started the season 0-14. After loss No. 5, local Cubs media man Dave Kaplan declared he would eat, sleep and shower in McDonalds until the Cubs won. Nine days of his life were spent in fast food hell. The season was not a complete loss; few noticed that we actually played over-.500 ball the rest of the season. But because the season was over before it barely began, I didnt blame anyone for looking ahead to 1998.I was drafted by the Cubs in 1991, so by the time I arrived to Wrigley Field in 1996, I had ingested some of this ancient toxicity. I was not a lifelong Cubs fan, but my minor league tenure made me more than just a hired gun like I was when I returned in 2003. My first introduction to professional baseball life was through the lens of Cubs culture. The tone is often set by the organization that drafts and signs you. Yet in any organization, no matter what has happened or how bad the current team may be playing, the future is just that: the future, a true opportunity to change the narrative with fresh blood and the optimism of youth.Then it got real. Minor league life, at the lower levels, was light-years away from the big leagues. For a while, I didnt understand the enduring pain, the sciatica of devastating defeat that shot down the legs of Cubs fans. But I did understand well that I could be part of the antidote, by looking toward a future of success, albeit hypothetical, since I was not in a major league uniform at the time. I was developing, not producing, which gave me enough Teflon-coated na?veté to dismiss curses. Especially since I was always nice to goats.Then, when I was put on the major league roster, it became real, palpable. Expectations, history, future, it slaps you in the face when you walk in the major league locker room in spring training for the first time (or as a September call-up). As longtime Cubs front-office man Larry Himes would say, You can see and feel the swagger in these locker rooms, it drips off of players. I walked into spring training and saw my jersey hanging next to Ryne Sandbergs, and no matter what the history, no matter how many Strat-O-Matic baseball games I played with Ryno hitting triples for my team, I was here now, imperatively unaware enough to believe I would write my own future as the decade-long center fielder for my Chicago Cubs. After all, as a minor leaguer with a great passion for baseball history, I looked around the room and saw great players, not a cemetery of the damned. Mark Grace (.300 hitter), Shawon Dunston (rocket arm), Randy Myers (lockdown closer), Sandberg (future Hall of Famer). Everyone was awesome, so why not us? Like any other major league team, we had All-Stars, we had first-rounders, we had guys like the late Jessie Hollins who could light up the radar gun. Who could beat these guys? They were the best I had ever seen in one room.So it was a good thing that I, or any young player, didnt have the burden of the past to cloud what my optimism told me about my future and this organizations future. This is the gift of youth, something the 2016 team has despite its ability to play like veterans. As Theo Epstein shared with me before a game last season, If you can find that balance of superior talent and maturity beyond his years, you have a star and winning player, for a long time. He found it in?Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell, Javier Baez?...In 1996, I was called up, a center fielder set to play left field in my debut at Wrigley Field. I was playing a position that was foreign to me to fill a void. A team lesson: Play where you can help this team the most. Bryant?went into 2016 being a super-utility player, not just a third baseman, and he may win MVP because of it. My being out of position did not secure me a long-term future as a Cub because I was a speedy defender who was not going to hit 30 home runs as a corner outfielder. But at least, I was in the lineup.By 1997, I was correct about running into career-development issues, as Cubs GM Ed Lynch would eventually say to me at the end of my .300-hitting first full season. We tried to give the starting job to everyone else but you, and to your credit, you rose above.I would get traded that offseason, interrupting my tenure as a Cub. I learned other team cultures -- the Phillies, the Rangers, even the Yankees in 2004 spring training. All had their own issues and challenges, with various levels of success.By the time I came back in 2003, I had seen a lot; I had experienced different baseball languages and societies. The attention to detail under Buck Showalter in Texas; the lax, full-loving, chill-fest of Terry Francona in Philadelphia; the high-octane, frenetic emotion off the rails under Larry Bowa, also in Philadelphia; the slithering life of the party and confidence-evoking wisdom of Dusty Baker in Chicago; all after Jim Riggleman in Chicago.I was back, but I was a different player, a different person. I had lost my father at the end of 2002; I was down a hamstring tendon from surgery earlier in the year; the evidence was in of what kind of player I was. The future was visible, no longer a dream. Even though it was the same Cubs uniform, 12 years after my first-round draft-pick status from 1991.Yet I had a lot left to play for. Things I didnt understand as a young prospect during my rookie campaign in 1996. Family, my fathers memory, debunking mythology, a second chance at what could have been if I played my entire career as a Cub. Bartman? Curse? No, what we all experience, life and loss, yet still with a chance at rebirth, redemption, honor.My graying in the game forced me to intake more than just the final score of a game. There was too much at stake at that point, and when we lost, I lay motionless in my apartment for 24 hours, trying to reconcile the level of exhaustion with taking the next step into tomorrow. Tired for the city, tired for the organization, tired from sitting on every pitch since I was traded over at the trade deadline in July.Maybe the 2016 Cubs dont know those stories. Player to player. Man to man. And maybe they shouldnt. They have overcome the invisible hurdle that eluded my 2003 team. Closing out a 3-2 lead, playing at home with the rotation set as well as it could be set. Something we could not accomplish behind the elite arms of Mark Prior and Kerry Wood.They delivered, and what we instantly come to understand is the necessity of the prior journey. It tastes sweeter after all this time; we now see fine wine in the bottle instead of rat poison adorned with skull and crossbones. It has aged appropriately and better yet, they will celebrate with their teammates and with generations of fans, players and staff who were part of the process that Joe Maddon so often talks about. As Maddon told me when asked if his team were a wine, what kind it would be:A blend. Robust and full-bodied. Complex flavors, well-rounded, with a strong finish.I could never take credit for the success of the 2016 Cubs in any direct sense, but our pain from 2003 has ripened, helping us all reinterpret the events that led to this point. History has been rewritten, or maybe weve just been patient enough to let history become our present. Jamal Adams Womens Jersey . LOUIS -- Heading into the final stretch of the season, the issues for the Chicago Bears banged-up defence only seem to be getting worse. Keyshawn Johnson Womens Jersey . The home side created most of the chances but struggled to break down Braunschweigs resilient defence, resulting in the Bundesligas 1,000th scoreless draw. http://www.authenticnyjetspro.com/Sam-darnold-jets-jersey/ . Clarkson had been dealing with an elbow injury in early January and will be out of action for at least one week. He has three goals and five assists through 36 games with the Leafs this season. Mark Gastineau Womens Jersey . Ryan Garbutt had a goal and two assists as Dallas snapped a six-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night. Trevon Wesco Jets Jersey . With Parker having a quiet game for once, Nicolas Batum and Boris Diaw provided the scoring as France won its first major basketball title by beating Lithuania 80-66 on Sunday. It was a victory that ended a decade of frustration for Parker and a talented French generation, which lost the final against Spain two years ago and took bronze in 2005. ST. LOUIS -- Jaden Schwartz and the St. Louis Blues are racking up points at home.Schwartz had two goals in the third period, David Perron scored the only goal in a shootout and the Blues beat the Minnesota Wild 4-3 on Saturday night.Paul Stastny also scored as St. Louis stretched its home point streak to nine games and improved to 9-1-2 at Scottrade Center.We want to take advantage of these games, divisional games especially, Schwartz said. It was good coming back after a loss to get a big win and get some more confidence going.Perron made the game-winning move in the fourth round of the shootout after each team came up empty in the first three rounds.I just saw the other guys go and actually on the way down was thinking backhand like I like to do, said Perron, and then, I dont know, I tried something different and it went in.Jake Allen stopped 28 shots and all four shootout attempts to improve to 10-3-3 on the season and 7-0-2 at home.Minnesota tied it at 3 with 1:08 left in regulation. After the Wild pulled Devan Dubnyk for an extra attacker, Charlie Coyle scored his eighth goal of the season on a feed from Eric Staal.It was a good play by (Staal) to just get control and bring it right to the net, Coyle said. Its a good way to battle back to earn that point, definitely.Erik Haula and Mikko Koivu also scored for the Wild. Dubnyk had 35 saves while starting on back-to-back days for the first time this season.Anytime you can pull the goalie and get a goal, I think it makes you feel a little bit better, coach Bruce Boudreau said. Obviously, we dont like to give up a lead in the third period, but we got a point on a tough week in a tough building so well take that right now.Schwartz put St. LLouis in front for the first time with a power-play goal at 4:30 of the third period.ddddddddddddBoudreau challenged the call, arguing that Blues forward Dmitrij Jaskin interfered with Dubnyk. But the referees ruling that Wild defenseman Ryan Suter pushed Jaskin into the goaltender stood.There was some goalie contact so it was iffy, but its in the third period, Boudreau said. The goal gave them the lead so to me it was worth the gamble.Schwartz also tied it at 2 early in the third when he deflected Perrons shot from the point past Dubnyk for his seventh of the season. Schwartz has five goals and three assists during a six-game point streak.Hes really playing well. Its really good to see, St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock said. Hes just tenacious and the skill and the timing of everything. Im really happy for him. Hes put so much work into it. His level of determination is so high its great to see.Koivu opened the scoring 11:36 into the first period when he buried a pass from Jason Zucker for his fourth of the season. The Blues tied it when Stastny scored for the third straight game 7:41 into the second.Haula got the lead back for Minnesota midway through the middle period. He capitalized when Allen was unable to grab Jason Pominvilles backhand into the crease from the corner.Game notes Perron has a seven-game point streak, tying a career high. ... Minnesota has allowed a league-low 41 goals in 21 games.UP NEXTWild: At Vancouver on Tuesday night in the second game of a five-game road trip.Blues: Host Dallas on Monday night in the second game of a five-game homestand. ' ' '